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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27059968">In Which History Repeats Itself</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSkyLarkin/pseuds/TheSkyLarkin'>TheSkyLarkin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>SkyLarkin's Whumptober 2020 Fics [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ava is Darkness AU, Canonical Character Death, Darkest Timeline, Emotional Hurt No Comfort, Flashbacks, Gaslighting, Gen, Headaches &amp; Migraines, Hurt No Comfort, Memory Alteration, Mentioned Chirithy (Kingdom Hearts), Mentioned Elrena (Kingdom Hearts), Mentioned Luxu (Kingdom Hearts), Mentioned Player Character (Kingdom Hearts), Mentioned Strelitzia (Kingdom Hearts), Mild Blood, Misunderstandings, Past Character Death, Whump, Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:13:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,456</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27059968</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSkyLarkin/pseuds/TheSkyLarkin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Sweet little Ventus, attacking another keyblade wielder? I did not see that coming.”</p><p>A certain someone gets tired of waiting for all the pieces to fall into place, and the Union Leaders are in danger of repeating the mistakes of their forebears. Or, “AU where all five Union Leaders are on the hill for the big reveal in Mission 925”. (Mostly) written before the release of UX Mission 965.</p><p>Challenge: Whumptober 2020<br/>Prompts: No. 17 - “I Did Not See That Coming” “Wrongfully (?) Accused”<br/>No. 26 - “Migraine”</p><p>See End Notes for comprehensive warnings/tags</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Brain &amp; Ephemer &amp; Lauriam &amp; Skuld &amp; Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>SkyLarkin's Whumptober 2020 Fics [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946617</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>In Which History Repeats Itself</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thank you to cherryslibrary (<a href="https://cherryslibrary.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a>/<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherryslibrary/pseuds/cherryslibrary">Ao3</a>) for beta reading!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The second he and Skuld arrived on the hill overlooking Daybreak Town with Brain’s Chirithy, Ventus could sense that something was wrong.</p><p>Brain was sitting on a rock near the crest of the hill, posture tense with an uncertain look upon his face—so unlike the flippant and assured leader Ven had come to know over these past few months. He had always been nose-deep in a book, eagerly devouring the knowledge that the Foretellers had left behind. Now, he simply looked lost—as if his quest for answers had finally hit a dead end, or perhaps he had been disturbed by what he had managed to uncover. Brain’s expression brightened up considerably when his Chirithy eagerly leaped into his lap and announced that his search had been successful, but quickly fell again as he glanced at the new arrivals then back at the other two leaders.</p><p>With an uncharacteristic nervousness, Ephemer stepped forward as Ven and Skuld approached, attempting to subtly put space in between them and Lauriam. The pink-haired leader was facing away from them, but there was something disconcerting about the stiff posture on such a usually lackadaisical, lanky frame that Skuld instinctively grabbed onto Ven by his checkered wristband to keep him from taking another step forward, without even knowing why.</p><p>However, the youngest union leader was already well too aware of the unspoken tension hanging in the air so thick you could slice it with a keyblade. “What’s… going on, you guys?” he asked with a nervous smile. “Why aren’t we meeting in the tower like we usually do?” With a faint bit of hope, he added, “Did you guys come out here to play in the snow too?”</p><p>His questions went unanswered at first. Ephemer turned to Brain and balefully asked if he’d meant to retrieve both of the missing leaders at the same time. Brain remained alarmingly silent, but his Chirithy chirped that it couldn’t be helped before vanishing in a puff of smoke. With his back still to the others, looking out at the town of keyblade wielders that the Master of Masters himself had chosen them to lead in the absence of the Foretellers, Lauriam finally spoke up and remarked that this would be much easier with everyone present…</p><p>“What would be easier, Lauriam? What are you talking about?” Warily, Skuld turned to Brain and demanded an explanation for bringing Ven and her here without telling them why. She flashed a similarly-searching look towards Ephemer, but the other union leader wouldn’t meet her gaze. Skuld threw him a dirty look; she was clearly taking his silence as more of a personal betrayal than Brain’s due to their history together as friends before they’d been chosen. Ven stayed behind her, unsure of what to do.</p><p>After a few moments of awkward silence, Brain replied by asking who had appointed the two of them as union leaders. Skuld and Ven had the same answer: Master Ava had appointed them. She was the leader of the Dandelions after all. But both of them were taken aback by Ephemer’s visible dismay at their answers. What answer had he been looking for then? Who else would possibly appoint a leader for the Dandelions if not Master Ava?</p><p>In the back of his mind, Ven registered a tiny pinprick of pain forming somewhere in his forehead, just above the upper corner of his left eye…</p><p>As Skuld and Ven answered Brain’s next question, Lauriam finally turned around to face the group at large. The unnerving, stormy expression on his face did unsettle Ven a bit as he explained that Master Ava had first approached him by the Daybreak Town clock tower with the request to become a union leader. Judging by Ephemer’s look of sheer panic and Brain subtly trying to tuck his hat down so that his facial expression wasn’t as visible, this was somehow the wrong answer yet again.</p><p>But why? Master Ava must have been so very busy leading the Dandelions as well as her own Union before the war—what did it matter where exactly they were when she decided to appoint him as a union leader?</p><p>Even if he still didn’t understand <i>why</i> she’d chosen him…</p><p>As Lauriam finally took a step forward, a grim expression still plastered on his face, so did Skuld. Her gaze was unwavering as she insisted on an explanation for the sudden interrogation. Lauriam glared back at her, stone-faced, while Ephemer tried to assure his old friend that there was a purpose for all of this. She remained unconvinced and retorted that the boys weren’t getting any more answers out of her or Ven until someone explained to her what was going on. Brain remained silent—as if still trying to play the role of the neutral observer, with little success.</p><p>There was a brief flash of light in his peripheral vision, but Ven dismissed that as just more of the gently falling snow. With a hint of desperation in his voice, Ven tried to defuse the standoff in front of him and asked if they were somehow suspected of doing something wrong? They couldn’t fight— no, they <i>shouldn’t</i> fight amongst themselves! That’s what had happened to the Foretellers, and that hadn’t ended well at all...</p><p>After a tense minute, Brain finally revealed the truth about the Book of Prophecies that Master Ava had left to him. And in that book, she’d also left him a note that named the five Union Leaders chosen by the Master of Masters. “Among these five names,” he explained, voice unsteady, “there’s one who isn’t here with us today—”</p><p>“—my little sister, Strelitzia,” Lauriam finished for him, voice quaking in anger. Oh, Ven realized, that’s why he was so upset. He’d told everyone before about his search for his missing sister, whom he hadn’t seen since the Dandelions fled to the new world. To have been looking for her all this time, and then learn that she was also supposed to be a Union Leader as well…</p><p>Skuld gasped with Ven, but Ephemer didn’t react: presumably, Brain had already told him and Lauriam about this before the last two Union Leaders were summoned. He did, however, begin slowly moving towards Lauriam, as if he were a wild animal that Ephemer was trying desperately not to provoke.</p><p>“But guess who isn’t on that list, and yet is here among the real leaders that Master Ava chose? <i>You.</i>" Ven involuntarily took a step back in response to the sheer vitriol packed into that one word and aimed at him by Lauriam. He looked to Ephemer and Brain, desperately hoping that one of them would say that this was a bad joke, but neither of them would meet his eyes. The world around him seemed brighter all of a sudden, like someone had turned on a bunch of lights. He was starting to feel a little sick...</p><p>At least there was one person still trying to stand up for him. “Lauriam, are you implying that <i>Ven</i> is the reason that your sister has disappeared?” Skuld asked incredulously. “How do we know that Master Ava didn’t change her mind about adhering to the list of leaders after having already given the Book of Prophecies to Brain when she wasn’t supposed to? Or maybe Strelitzia had a change of heart and decided not to join the Dandelions after all, just like—”</p><p>“Master Ava wouldn’t do that!” Brain suddenly snapped at the same time Lauriam yelled, “There’s no way that Strelitizia would have stayed behind in that dying world just because of your stupid, indecisive friend!” Ven winched at the sudden loud noise, ears ringing a little. Ephemer and Skuld were instantly on the defensive at the mention of this person (perhaps it was the same friend that they’d brought up to him before?), but Lauriam continued undeterred.</p><p>“And who else would have a motive for getting rid of Stelitizia? Only an imposter who wanted to infiltrate the Dandelions to escape the end of the world would get rid of her and take her book! With the rulebook of a leader in their hands, why would any of us have a reason to question if they were really picked by Master Ava or not? It’s the perfect crime!”</p><p>“And I mean really, if Master Ava hadn’t left that note, who of us would have ever suspected him? Sweet little Ventus, attacking another keyblade wielder? I did not see that coming.”</p><p>“We don’t know that Ven killed her!” Ephemer retorted loudly. A throbbing pain suddenly hit Ven on both sides of his head, right on the temples. His knees buckled, but Skuld managed to turn and catch him before he could hit the ground. She made a series of rapid-fire shushing noises in Ephemer’s general direction, but he didn’t seem to hear her as he continued loudly, “All the note tells us is that Ven wasn’t supposed to be one of us, that doesn’t mean he—”</p><p>“Oh, so you’re still going with your theory that “the darkness” or whatever did it!?” Lauriam shouted back. Ven couldn’t help but wince at the additional noise. He could hear Skuld waving her free hand around, but couldn’t even power through the sudden pain enough to open his eyes and see what she was doing. Lauriam took a deep breath, as if trying (and failing) to calm down a little. “And I never said he “killed” Strelitizia; he could have just attacked her and stolen her book just before we were all due to travel to this world! You and Brain are just in denial that Ven could have been involved in whatever happened to my sister!”</p><p>“Or maybe... you’re covering for him! If I hadn’t bumped into you two having a meeting up here, you’d have never told me about Ven being the imposter, would you!?”</p><p>“Lauriam, you’re being unreasonable!” Brain berated him from much closer than Ven was anticipating. Skuld angrily shushed him, and there was suddenly another person supporting Ven on his other side. “We’re all here for an explanation, rather than an interrogation,” he continued in a much calmer and quieter voice. “So let’s all calm down, and listen to what Ven has to say for himself before we start throwing around wild accusations, alright?”</p><p>Ven could practically <i>hear</i> Lauriam seething, but he stayed silent for now. “Ven?” Ephemer asked as footsteps approached him. Despite the overwhelming pain, Ven wrenched his eyes open to look up at Ephemer—normally their bastion of reason and common sense—looking lost and confused as he waited for an explanation.</p><p>“When you met with Lady Ava, did anything seem off about her?” Brain asked him gently. Ven tried to turn his head to answer him, but everything was getting so bright again...</p><p>“No, I d-don’t—” Suddenly, the pain in his head intensified and Ven’s vision swam as a memory came back to him.</p><p>
  <i>He was in a dark, empty house… There was a girl in a white dress, standing there in front of him with her Chirithy… She had been shouting, but not at him… Then they both fell to the floor, as if struck.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Had he done that?</i>
</p><p>
  <b><i>Pick it up.</i></b>
</p><p>
  <i>He looked down… There was a small green book lying beside the body of the girl… He grabbed it before it could get stained by any of the blood on the floor...</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Why…?” The fatally injured Chirithy had called out weakly, but Ven had no answer for him.</i>
</p><p>
  <b><i>Let’s go.</i></b>
</p><p>
  <i>His legs seemed to move all on their own, towards the exit of the house. He didn’t even remember how he had gotten there before...</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“... Lauriam…” The girl in white tried to call out, but her voice barely rose above a mere whisper.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>The last thing Ven remembered was stepping into the light and seeing Master Ava standing beside him, gently guiding him towards the clock tower…</i>
</p><p>
  <i>But why? Everything had been too bright…</i>
</p><p>Everything was too bright… Everything was too loud...</p><p>Through the stabbing pain in his temples, Ven was only vaguely aware of the tears flowing from his eyes. There was shouting all around him and suddenly the support on his left side was gone, knocking him off balance until someone came to replace whoever had been holding him up. “Skuld, don’t!” Ephemer yelled beside him. Through the cacophony that followed, Ven could only make out the sound of two keyblades clashing and the chime of the clock tower ringing out before all of his senses were overwhelmed and everything faded to black.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <i>“Perhaps the Master was less interested in the world’s future, and more interested in how we, his disciples, would let our hearts guide us?”</i>
</p><p>As the chimes of the clock tower rang out once more, Ava couldn’t help but recall that question Luxu had posed to her when it was them standing on that hill overlooking the true Daybreak Town. She thought he’d been misinterpreting the Master’s words at the time, but as she watched the union leaders standing where she had stood in the last world, the true meaning of that question finally made itself clear to her.</p><p>Like most of the Master’s machinations, it had all been a mere experiment in the end. A simple test: in the face of conflict, would they pull together to defy fate—even going as far as to disobey their Master’s orders? Or would they succumb to darkness and the seeming inevitability of their pre-ordained fates? Like the Foretellers before them, these five had made the later choice. How disappointing.</p><p>Ava briefly wondered if the Foretellers had even been the first, or if there’d been someone before them who’d been put to the test in such a manner. Had this all been a long cycle of failures, of different people pitted against the darkness and losing to their base instincts? These children had been doing so much better than her and her former comrades at first… but perhaps all of them were fated to turn to darkness as well. All it had taken was some careful misinformation about the fate of Strelitzia, delivered in the disguise of a young blonde keyblade wielder to Lauriam, in order to sew doubt in his heart about the imposter among the leaders...</p><p>So be it then. If Darkness was her fate, then she’d use this Darkness to save the Light from others who would use it for mere selfish ends. She turned away from the union leaders upon the hill—these failed guardians of light—and opened up a dark portal. It did not matter if this world was doomed, not when she’d learned how to cross over to other worldlines.</p><p>Now to deal with the witch.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! Constructive criticism is appreciated!</p><p>Triggers/Warnings: Implied Gaslighting/Memory Tampering, Psychological Whump, Minor Whump, Mention of Canon Character Death</p></blockquote></div></div>
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